The Pirate Bay criticises Anonymous hackers for taking down Virgin Media site

The founders of the file sharing web site Pirates Bay was charged with violations against the copyright laws at a court in Stockholm, Sweden, January 31, 2007. Foto: Claudio Bresciani / SCANPIX / Kod 10190
Credit: PA Photos

Filesharing site condemned the action against the court ruling which could shut the site down

Filesharing site The Pirate Bay has criticised internet hacker collective Anonymous for taking down the Virgin Media website in protest at a court ruling which could shut the popular site down for copyright infringement.

The Pirate Bay condemned the action on their Facebook page, stating: “We do NOT encourage these actions. We believe in the open and free internets, where anyone can express their views. Even if we strongly disagree with them and even if they hate us”

Anonymous took down the website this week after a court ruling earlier this year which has stated that The Pirate Bay enables breaches of copyright laws. Anonymous claims the ruling is censorship.

Anonymous recently launched their own social music platform, Anontune. You can read our interview with the group behind the new site on NME.com/blogs

Earlier this year (February 20) the high court in London ruled in favour of the record labels and music groups which want the site to be blocked in the UK, as it lets its users illegally download and share music.

The high court will decide in June if the website should be totally blocked to British internet service providers, however, today’s ruling makes this outcome seem likely.

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The Pirate Bay has 3.7 million UK users and 30 million users globally. In 2010, its founders had to pay a £4.1 million fine after being found guilty of enabling copyright infringement in Sweden.